Gig Economy is on the rise with IT skills requiring professionals to work on project for shorter duration. As reported by Livemint, the IT flexi staffing market in India, worth $3.04 billion in 2016-17, is expected to grow 14-16% annually to become a $5.3 billion industry by 2021, [Source: Indian Staffing Federation Report].

Most of the skills that are turning into jobs were not grouped as a job so far. Tenured jobs are giving way to gigs.

As experts to the HR Compliance and Audit how would you manage this for an employer? The emerging skill groups do not have a clarity in terms of jobs. They are mostly work-based than designation or even salary-band based roles! Hence, which are the areas critical to Compliance that an employer must care for while hiring the Flexi-Employee?

Would the retirals be managed by the employee? If so, how ? How would the benefits be managed?

Voonik , an online fashion brand has deferred the payments for its 200 employees by 3 months. As reported by Money Control, Voonik’s CEO and Co-Founder Sujayath Ali said those who will quit the company will get a month’s salary as the severance package. He added the company “is currently one or two months away from EBITDA (earnings before, interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation) profitability.

Subir Chatterjee, Compensation and Benefit Head says, ” Help me to understand this better. The founder deferred the salary to achieve EBIT? So far I know salary is part of operating expenses, don’t they have to book the salary as future liability? Operating Earning comes much before EBIT.”

Pratik Vaidya, MD Karma Management added, “Very few organisation understand the value of human capital & asset rather than treating as Operating expense. Audited Companies that defer salary and other incentive payables & sheepishly roll back in future when their employee leave”.

Subeer Bakshi, CHRO Bajaj Allianz reflects, “Agree that it’s going to be problematic, but it’s a well-intentioned alternative to lay-offs. That’s laudable, and I hope the employees buy in!”

What impact would this have on HR compliances to be maintained in the company. How would the EPF contribution, ESIC if any, other Retirals and tax deduction be managed by the employer in such a situation?

“I’m currently at a crossroads between 3 job options and don’t know what to do! I’m working as an HR Coordinator in a top pharmaceutical company making pretty decent money for the role. However the role is a temp position and I want a permanent role with benefits. There will be a recruitment opening up within the next two months and I’m thinking of applying but I’m not too interested in recruitment, I have done it before and I would do it again but I would prefer something more diverse. The only reason I am considering applying is because I love the company I currently work for and would probably get a small bump in compensation. A full time role at my current company would also come with X amount, a year in tuition reimbursement which I want since I want to do my master’s degree.

My second option is Employee Relations Analyst which would pay what I’m currently making but it’s 30 minutes longer of a commute and X/2 amount a year max in tuition reimbuirsement. This position seems interesting since I am very interested in ER but I don’t know if analysing data all day is what I would enjoy doing.

Lastly, the third option is an HR Associate role at a Forbes 10 company which pays 9,000 less than what I’m currently making but they pay 100% for your health insurance, comes with bonus and has unlimited tuition reimbursement. However the role would be supporting one other person in HR, it would only be 2 people in that particular office which seems ok but I’m concerned about future room for advancement. However, this would include ER, benefit administration, and more of a generalist role since I would be dealing with many aspects of HR which I like.

I don’t know which to choose or proceed with, recruitment role which I’m not too excited about but good pay and good benefits at the company I’m with, the ER analyst role which I’m sort of excited about and make the same as I’m doing now but longer commute, or work for a REALLY good company making 9,000 less with amazing benefits and an HR Team of two??

I have been in HR for 3 years and want to be sure the next role will be a good stepping stone into my career.”

The choices are clear. Every role offers an option that can be easily compared to the other. However, the choice made now will define the future. It’s not merely about the next few years of employment, but also funding the Post Graduate Degree.

Even though the first option offers you the greatest salary, it is evident from your words that you don’t wish to work in Recruitment. Hence it doesn’t make any sense to consider that.

It seems evident that you wish to take up the second option. The longer commute and half the salary offered in comparison to the first employer doesn’t pose a problem as you want to work as ER. However, if you fail to enjoy that role, this choice might completely backfire! On the top, any cap on the tuition reimbursement needs to be considered very strongly, as it would increase the monetary burden at your end!

Salary as a parameter can be considered only for a short term. In case of the long term, it’s all about the brand and the support for the education. The job offer accepted now, needs to be the stepping stone for a better job placement once you receive the Post Graduation Degree. Hence, the third option with the Forbes 10 Company remains the best option.

Every brand brings in a professional exposure along with a standard environment, which frames the maturity and efficiency. You have worked for last three years, you are in the right stage to groom and optimise your potential further. You will gain an access to a great work environment, the alumni, and live the joy of contributing to the company’s success!

Even though you are doubtful about your growth in this role, it still is a better offer as it will pay unlimited tuition reimbursement! The 9000 less in the pay won’t matter for long , as they offer a bonus, which might take care of the deficit! The growth factor might not pose a question after the Post Graduation, as you will have the choice to look for a change.

A strong brand with a Generalist Role, would offer you a sound experience to land the next best job that you apply for. On the top, you won’t have any Education loan. I guess this seals the deal offering the best of both the worlds.

Rest I leave it for you to decide ! May the best job find you. Good luck !

If you have any HR Query or any query on Future of Work, please write to me in here. Looking forward to learn more while finding solutions for you.

Nabomita is the Founder to Nabomita.com. She is the Top 100 Women Achiever Awardee, awarded by Government of India , TEDx Speaker, Quoted on ForbesUS, one of the Top 20 HR Influencer in Social Media as declared by SHRM India and one among the Top 100 Technology Influencer in India. Connect with her on @nabomita_smiles , Facebook Page and Google+

“I own a midsize company and today I had a senior staff member resign to me as soon as he came in. I accepted his resignation and asked him to hold tight as I gathered my thoughts on next steps. 2 hours later he said he was withdrawing his resignation.

Can I accept his verbal resignation? I don’t want to keep him around any more as he explained to me that it was time for him to move on and that he felt it was time for a change.

I think something happened to his other opportunity and is trying to backtrack. I’m certain he will keep looking for another job anyway.”

What would you do if you were caught up in a similar situation? It’s easy to decide an yes or no , but let’s look into the process , before you decide.

A resignation requires the submission in writing. It needs to be clearly stated why the resignation have been tendered. The employer needs to then start processing the conversation. First of all, as soon as you receive a resignation, please issue a letter sharing the resignation have been received and it is under due consideration.

Then arrange for a detailed discussion with the resignee and your HR Team. You may or may not include the reporting manager depending on the request of the resignee. Often the employee submitting such a request has some grievances which needs to be heard in isolation. Incase the employee is fine, organise a meeting with the Reporting Manager and the HR Business Partner.

Understand in details, why the employee is resigning and how would the knowledge transfer happen. Make sure the duration for release, transfer or responsibilities and sharing of every information is agreed and signed off.

In case an employee doesn’t want to serve the Notice Period, please share the process. If as an employer you allow them to buy-out , please explain the calculation and the final number that the employee needs to pay.

Once the resignation process has moved to the acceptance stage by the employer, share if you have any implication on resignation withdrawal. Clearly state beyond which point can the resignation still be re-considered. Draw a timeline, such as if the Notice Period is 3 months long, define the period for re-consideration will lats till end of the first month.

Plan your talent accusation during the Notice Period. In case you can’t hire or the employee do not want to serve the notice period allocate the responsibility to a team member and initiate the Knowledge Transfer.

The Exit process on the final day needs to have every area signed off including handover or responsibilities, duties and any Office property assigned to the employee. Seal the process with Release Certificate.

Once you have a rock solid process in place, your employees would know there are little chances of diversions. This kind of an elaborate timeline would allow you to re-think your own decision on releasing the employee. You will be able to weigh every cost of a new hire to training your existing employee. Restructure is easy, when you are sure of the result you want to achieve.

Hence, every room for verbal back tracking will be avoided! Decide for yourself, if you want to release an employee who wanted to resign, or hold on to someone who has realised you are far better than his options? At the end of the day every employee would leave your firm, someday or the other. Its up to you to optimise the talent and the time you have with them!

With barely two days to the Amendment to the Maternity Bill , we have raging debates in the media with Deccan Chronicle and Scoopwhoop raising the burning questions. Will this put a check on hiring women? Would taking six months off from the work, make a women talent irrelevant?

Canada and Norway offers 50 and 44 weeks as Maternity Benefit respectively. Did that stop the employers from hiring women? Census reveals that by 2014, women made up almost half (47%) of the entire Canadian workforce! Same for Norway, where the women workforce make upto 47% in public and 26% in private sector according to a study released in 2008! Since the number of jobs and talent entering the workforce have increased, can we expect a bigger number by now? But then these are countries other than India. So let’s take a look at what is going to challenge hiring Women in the workforce:

It’s anybody’s guess that the employer would hesitate from hiring a woman in the child-bearing age because of the added cost.

The needs of a six-month old baby would be only slightly less than a three-month old one.

So suppose the man is getting at least half as many offs as the woman is getting, won’t the employer be less biased against women?

Here’s my question to the employers. If you choose not hire women to save on your six-months salary, will that help your attrition cost too? Given the fact that women, especially when they start a family looks for stability, hence are way more loyal to men who would job-hop at the drop of a hat, would that still make hiring women costly? As an employer does it makes sense to hire a competitive talent who won’t resign for the next few years, for the conducive environment that you are building? More importantly, doesn’t the men in the same firm remain productive just because their wives were taking care of the child at home? And somehow the employers hiring those women are readily bearing the cost!

Secondly, the needs of the baby cannot be categorised so broadly. We live in a world where there are nuclear families. Not every woman can hire a nanny or house help to take care of the baby as she is away. Compared to earlier days, the support-system is down to the parent who needs to meet every demand for raising a child. How does then it makes sense to narrow the timeline for an infant? Especially in a country where mall nutrition in babies does not remain specific to any economic group.

Finally, were men waiting for the bill to be passed so that they can wash off their hands from the responsibility of an infant-care? In a country where ‘Dads changing nappies because Moms need to attend a business meeting’ is a luxury to few, how much does this Bill change the behaviour?

Back in the days, where the IT Parks suddenly tightened the rules on women security, there were similar doubts raised towards hiring women. Did that stop the number of women in the workforce grow? Similar costs were calculated down to every dime with the increase in hiring security personnel and adding video cameras for round the clock surveillance. Every challenge brings in a new solution, such as rise in the number of women cab drivers since the Uber incident.

What fuelled the change where fears met solutions? Did we hear the rise in the telecommute way back in 90’s? Inspite of the adoption of this work design, the resistance remains as the companies can afford huge work spaces to accommodate every employee. FaceTime and cubicle will remain in vogue till we have socio-economic changes disrupting them.

The Bill clearly mentions the option for Telecommute. However, that is being ignored largely, as the adoption of such systems will take time to become a norm. In the view of emerging work format, how does the Bill look like in the future? Would it allow a women to plan her career and family in parallel? If a woman needs to remain out of workforce for a declared duration, does that allow her to be up-skilled and plan for greater responsibilities? It would call for sponsoring such growths within the company. Is n’t the woman who is taking a break for child care, a wife to a man who could remain productive to his employer, just because she was at home?

Cyclic unemployment is norm, thanks to the repeated business cycle changes that we have experienced. This goes same for men and women. Losing a job due to diminishing revenue or policy changes no longer stops a career. Even men have to up-skill, relocate and network to find a new job! Companies have openly acknowledge hiring talent out of workforce.

In case such measures are not enough to meet the employment required, we have Gig Economy offering interesting jobs to build a promising portfolio.

Every benefit offered turns into a hygiene factor even before we know. How soon would this 26 weeks turn into a norm with no one even discussing about them, we will wait to see!

If you have any HR Query or any query on Future of Work, please email me nabomita@nabomita.com . Looking forward to learn more while finding solutions for you.

‘Pay Secrecy’ one of the best kept secret by the HR , which the world comes to know otherwise!

We have tons of research to support how it adversely affects your performance when you get to know how much your undeserving co-worker is getting paid. Is that the only truth ?

Does secrecy breeds trust or transparency? Why as an employer would you want to hide when you have a policy for equal employment and promote equal pay? Is the information of how much an employee draws worth sharing openly within the company or even public domain? In the times of Glassdoor and Payscale, how secret is your pay to your employees?

We can understand the ugly situation of explaining every employee why one is paid more than other, inspite of in-equal education or experience is sticky. More importantly your view of weighing a potential may not remain equate how your employees measure them. But shouldn’t that remain self-explanatory in a result-driven world?

How did Whole Foods manage to make the information salaries open? That too since 1986? They managed to let every employee view how they are stacked up and not loose them? Or run into low-productivity? Why are the talent working in their company behaving differently and not raising a storm in a tea cup with their questions on entitlement ?

In India, Public Sector organisation have grades declared with the pay range. Talents joining such an organization have the exact information on how the hikes would work for them and their peers. Even the timeline to all such hikes remains declared.

When Buffer declared their salaries on the web the number of job applicants grew effortlessly. SumAll followed the lead, with the firm creating transparency within the 40 member team.

With Gig Economy growing through platforms that allow a talent to bid for the gig, how far does the pay remains a secret? When end-result is the only measure, shouldn’t pay remain obvious? If merit is the only edge, how difficult is it to explain potential?

If you have any HR Query or any query on Future of Work, please email me info@nabomita.com . Looking forward to learn more while finding solutions for you.